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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Basically, before I leave to work, I would give her 5 pages of homework. Be it tracing or maths, but very simple ones. Just to discipline her.

Then, she would play all day and watch TV. Her favourite shows at the moment are Ultraman, Ninja Turtles and Didi and Friends. I bought her lots of arts and crafts stuff as well. Mostly from Toys R Us, I borong so many last Christmas as it got way too cheap. So mommies, YES is nearing.. go grab yours.

I also just discovered that Mr. DIY has so many arts and crafts items for kids with the price of just 10% from what I paid to buy stuff in Toys R Us. For example, I bought this keychain for Khaira to colour below for RM3.90.

At night, she would:
1. Revise 5 surahs.
2. 3 pages of reading. Her current read, and first story book. Now at pg 50.

3. Mengaji plus a line hafazan from the current surah she is at. She is now in her 17th surah.
4. Then, she would do one of these:
a) spelling on Monday
b) English reading on Tuesday, Thursday
c) Maths on Wednesday
d) Mind games on Friday

All these would take less than half an hour.

As for Aisha, she would play all day and watch TV. At night, 3 minutes or less on flashcards. And.. that's it. Yesterday, I decided to eat first before teaching them as opposed to norm. But just after Maghrib, she took her own book and sat where we usually sit waiting for me.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

It started off with so many of us, until it became only two Malay ladies in the class. I was, as always the youngest.

My Master, of course was so excited to introduce me here and there. Wanted to bring me to the Grandmaster who came all the way from China, proudly saying that Taichi in Malaysia is multi racial and even attracted the youngsters. My physique obviously made me looked younger. I'm 30, Sifu.. not that young anymore (T_T).

But to be, honest.. I'm not that proud of my Taichi.

I have been in sooo many classes before. I excelled in my Aerobic class, doing okay in my Yoga class, so-so in my Tae-Kwan-Do, BUT Taichi is not something I'm proud of yet.

Taichi differs a lot from other classes I've been into. It is so detailed, and gentle and requires a lot of memorization.

The Introductory class, there were 16 steps. 16 complicated steps to memorize. Just when I thought I am doing okay with the 16 steps, I went to Taichi 103.

What is Taichi 103?

"Ohh.. it is just the extension of the 16 steps," my Sifu said.

Right....

Except that the extension means you add 87 more steps, hence Taichi 103.

16 steps + 87 steps = 103 steps = Taichi 103.

I don't even consider it as extension okay!! It's a whole new thing. *cries*

"How do I memorize all the three steps?" I asked my Taichi class monitor after my last session ended.

"It's like a lab session, you know.." He answered. And his following reply made me cursed myself for asking that stups question. "When we want to test the students on psychomotor, we ask them to do the prelab first. Practice is like doing the prelab. Then only you can master the session."

It has been a while since my SABians clan got hitched. Last month, Sabri got married to her 11 years girlfriend, leaving Fai the only one among us.. of course, no pressure dear. Actually this one needs to be pressured, because she is sooo workaholic ok!

Also that weekend was fun for me because it was Mochi's birthday! Got to meet my Ampang friends, it has been a while.

The kids had so much fun, must have bouncing castle for the girls' birthday next time! (>_<)

Monday, December 14, 2015

After my last visit to see Grandmom in IJN, we went to Putrajaya for Genius Aulad's Little Ihtifal.

Ohh.. that proud moment of seeing your baby girl on stage. I did not know what to expect. Turned out she was very brave and confident that it almost made me cry. Emo mom!

My baby.. here's to more on stage performance after this. In shaa Allah.. lepas ni Quran recitals/hafazan ok :) Make Ibu and Abi proud. Datuk and Nenny were there to support her as well!

Spot Khaira!

During the show, when Khaira looked at the crowd to find me, our eyes immediately met and she waved. Up until today, she proudly claimed that she immediately spotted me among the hundreds of people. May our bond continue until the end.

P/S: Khaira was the one wearing ballerina yellow dress on top of her pants.

There will not be a day that shall go by without me thinking of you, Mak.

...

During the last months of the passing of my Grandmother, my aunt and family, my uncle and my uncle's friend have contributed so so much for my Mak. In fact, my uncle's friend was the last person to be there half an hour before Mak passed away, and stayed overnight in the hospital with Mak. He was not an actual family member, but he took care of Mak as if it was his own. Everytime we came, he would wash the dishes, do the laundry or even cook for her and to the extend brought Mak to kubur Datuk every now and then. Mak spoke so highly of him, it was only natural to approach him and thanked him for taking care of Mak all these while after kebumi yesterday.

"I wasn't the one who helped Mak," he said. "It was the other way around."

It turned out all these while, when he spent time at Mak's house, Mak taught him how to solat and mengaji. He couldn't thank her more. He said half an hour before Mak's passing, she was soooo happy, even made some donation and small talks to patients next to her bed. ... So, this morning, when I woke up numb, feeling more lost and empty than yesterday, his words made me able to get up to know that Mak had an easy ending and husnul khatimah, in shaa Allah.

1. Crushed the digestive biscuits, mixed with butter and put it as a base, chill
2. Mixed cream cheese, creamer, gelatin and lemon juice in a mixer. Put it on top of the base.
3. Serve the blueberry jam as its topping. I bought the ones in Baguz, and I don't quite like the taste of it. I would suggest to go for Tesco's blueberry jam.

Happy trying!

...

Worth mentioning for my keepsake that, before we went for dinner, we dropped by at Grandmother's and that was the last time I saw her alive in her own house. She was later admitted the next day due to pneumonia.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

My grandmother was very dear to me. She took care of me up until I was 9. I came to visit her every weekend. I called her up every now and then. She shared my every stories, even puppy love moments without any prejudice. She knows everything about me, more than my mom.

Grandmother love.

Two Sundays ago, I went to visit her in IJN. She was admitted on the 24th November due to difficulty in breathing. Turns out she had a slight pneumonia. Apart from that, she was healthy. Not even being dripped.

However, considering it was her 4th time in IJN within less than a year, doc suggested to do angiogram due to her previous heart problem. The angio was scheduled to be on the 27th November, but later was postponed to 4th December due to her kidney was unstable. Angiogram procedure has an affect towards kidney, might caused the kidney to fail, hence, we obliged.

So, two Sundays ago, after not being able to see her for three days, Grandmother looked a bit feverish. She craved for Cendol and after having her Cendol, terus demam. I believe because it was too cold in IJN. Nonetheless, she was chirpy as usual. I fed her some porridge with she shared with Aisha, aunt captured our pics together..

..and that was it.

That was my last moment and my last picture with my Grandmother, whom I dearly called "Mak".

On Wednesday, mom and dad visited Mak and she was so happy. That night, Abang Mat spent a night in the hospital with Mak. She was so so happy. In the morning at around 1030 am, Mak insisted Abang Mat to go to the cafe for breakfast. Siap bagi RM50, belanja katanya. Because she was persistent, Abang Mat left for breakfast.

Around 10.45am, Mak went to the toilet with the nurse. After a while, the nurse called for her from outside of the toilet to no reply. When the nurse opened the door, Mak was trying to move from toilet seat to her wheelchair, clutching her chest. Nurse suspected she was having a major heart attack. The nurse managed to hold Mak before she hit the ground, but by then, Mak has left us.

At 11.08, I received a phone call from Aunt saying that IJN called, "Mak critical" was her exact words. (In actual, Mak has passed away and they waited for official statement from doc).

I rushed to IJN, only to discover that Mak has left us while on the way.

Doc tried everything, but did not manage to do anything. CPR 5 times to resurrect, last option is to cut her neck to inject some medication straight to the heart, but to no avail.

1. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan over a medium low heat. Add onions, cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and caramelised.

2. Add stock, the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer, simmer soup uncovered for 10-20 minutes or until slightly thickened.

3. Ladle soup into ½ cup capacity oven-proof bowls set on an oven tray. Sprinkle a little gruyere and parmesan onto the top of each bowl of soup. Top each with two slices of toasted ficelle then sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Place under a hot grill for 3-5 minutes of until cheese is melted and light golden.

About Me

A servant tries to please her Creator. A mother who believes in gentle birthing and islamic parenting. A wife to her high school sweetheart. A daughter, hoping to be better each passing day. A lecturer in which geeky stuff excites her. A travel junkie and a book worm whom life is never better after graduating her PhD :)